Blinded
by Kelirehenna
Summary: One night in a hotel could change your life. [BryanTala]
1. by the Lights

Title: Blinded

Rating: T

Pairing: Bryan/Tala, mentions onesided Tala/Kai (nothing serious, though...)

Warning: Includes yaoi. Deary, deary me... Also includes foul language. I blame the television.

Disclaimer: Beyblade and it's characters do not belong to me, I'm just borrowing them to amuse myself and (hopefully) the others.

Summary: One night in a hotel could change your life.

Beta-reader: Nancy. She deserves a lot of chocolate for putting up with me and my stories.

A/N: Ah-ha! I decided to torment the humanity again. And I'm continuing with the couples I love... And I really do love this one.

My inspiration for this one? A Russian hotel, in which I have never been to. But I have the feeling, that now I have to go there someday.

Reviews and constructive criticism are very much appreciated.

* * *

**Blinded **

They didn't call it "The City of Lights" for nothing.

It really was a beautiful view. Tala was quite sure that there was nothing which could have compared with the beauty of Moscow in moonlight... Moonlight? Well, if you thought about it critically, you could hardly see the moon through all the clouds and stars seemed to be just gone. But that didn't matter, because there were the lights. Brilliant, luminous, intoxicating lights everywhere! Tala felt like he could have gone blind due to all the brightness around him. But if he was to go blind, he would not complain, because otherwise everything was just plain perfect right now. Right now, Tala could have _died_ as a happy man.

Of course, he might have been just a bit biased with all this. It was his hometown, after all. And he had to admit, that there was probably always something special about the view if you were looking at it from the roof. Of a 34 storey building. In more than 530 feet high.

Tala grinned. It wasn't exactly allowed to be there. But since when had he cared? Besides, it only made the whole experience more pleasurable. The risk of getting caught...

He really needed to thank Spencer and Ian for practically forcing him to take the holiday.

"Come on, you deserve it after all you've been through! We have the money, it's not a problem. You'll spend a day and night in a luxurious hotel and you'll relax and have fun", they had said. Tala had only sneered and told them that he didn't need it, and that their own home was just fine. Ian had reserved the hotel anyway, already for the next night. Only then had Tala been informed that cancelling now would not give them their money back, and the whole thing had cost them more than 11 000 Rubles. Angrily, he had agreed to go. Ian had smiled victoriously while Spencer had told him that he might as well take a friend along with him, since it would not cost anything extra. Everyone had turned their gaze towards the fourth teammate, who had been silently sitting on the couch nearby.

After a while, Bryan had lifted his head, looked at Tala and said sweetly:

"How about Kai then?"

Tala had ordered the other one to join him, just to piss him off. He received a lot of curses as an answer, but in the end Bryan had agreed to come. Ian had been even more mischievously looking than usual when he had casually sat next to Bryan and told with an innocent voice:

"Oh, and I hope you don't mind; I might have accidentally ordered a room with just one, king-sized bed. But I thought to myself: what the hey, they're friends, right? And it's not like your masculinity will suffer or anything if you sleep together. In a same bed, I mean."

Spencer had hold Bryan still for the next 3 hours so that he could not kill the shorter boy, who in turn had used the golden opportunity to tease Tala endlessly on the subject "You are going to sleep with Bryan!" .

Tala really, really, _really_ should have never told his teammates that he was gay. While they weren't angry or disgusted as he had been afraid of in the beginning, they certainly did their part of making his life even more difficult than it already was. Ian and Spencer seemed to think that he was a funny little gay-man who could and should be teased whenever possible, and Bryan... well, Bryan was Bryan. He wouldn't tease Tala, he would always be on his side and his act towards the redhead was usually just the way it had been before the great disclosure. And still...

There was this little something that bothered Tala more than it should have, really. Bryan didn't shower with them anymore. Sure, Tala understood that there were lots of reasons why a 17-year-old guy would not like to go to showers with three other guys on regular basis, but still! They had always done so in the abbey. It had been so normal to them, that when the Biovolt-corporation had been abolished and the four of them had moved into the same house, they had actually installed four separate showers to their bathroom. Some old habits die hard, and some of them live on forever.

While they were moving in, Tala had more or less incidentally slipped that he preferred men over women. Everyone had just stared for a while. Then Ian had shrugged lightly and, while continuing carrying the pile of cartons inside, said:

"Well, good luck with that then. If you ever have trouble finding yourself a date, I'm pretty sure that our milkman fancies you. Hey, maybe you could even make him give us some discount?"

Spencer had grinned encouragingly, winked and hurried off to save Ian from dropping the cartons. Bryan had just stood there, with his mouth open, and stared. After a couple of minutes Tala had felt obligated to ask whether he was alright. Bryan had just closed his mouth, nodded hastily and somehow carried the whole couch inside the building, alone, without even thinking it. He was back to normal in five minutes though, so Tala thought that there was nothing to worry about.

Except, of course, that little thing with showers. Later that night, when the others had decided to take a nice, refreshing shower, Ian had asked whether Bryan would join them too. The answer had been polite but strict "no thank you". When Ian had asked why, Bryan had mumbled something about not having a particular reason, but strangely enough looked at Tala from the corner of his eye. Ian and Spencer had looked like they would have wanted to say a few words to the precious teammate of theirs, but Tala had begged them with his eyes to not to say anything about it.

After that day, Ian and Spencer had kept on showering with Tala because they saw no reason to stop doing so. It was, after all, the way they had done it most of their life, and, as Spencer had said:

"It's not like you wouldn't have seen us naked before, why start panicking now?"

After that day, Bryan had started going to the showers alone. Tala had once, in a severely sad and miserable mood, through teary eyes asked Bryan would he still shower with them if he would have not known that his teammate was gay. Bryan had just smiled softly, something he very rarely did, gently stroked Tala's tearful cheek and said that it had nothing to do with it. Since Tala was so desperate to believe that it did not have anything to do with it, he had not let himself worry about it anymore. Bryan was still Bryan. Only thing Tala really missed while not being able to shower with his teammate was someone to inconspicuously stare and marvel. Since whether Tala liked to admit it or not, Bryan was hot as hell. And indeed, Bryan in little clothing or in no clothing at all was most certainly a sight that every homosexual man on the planet would have welcomed to his bathroom with open arms and, possibly, with little less clothing too. Tala was no exception. But the fact that he happened to desire his teammate's smooth skin and tight muscles and something he did not even dare to think about did not make him a pervert. It just showed that Tala had some appreciation towards the perfect creations of gods, that's all.

Wind stirred the red hair, and Tala woke up from his thoughts to be able to admire the view again. The river nearby looked as though it was full of different colours and lights. If Tala would take a jump now, would he land on the water and flow with the lights? His brains told him that the distance made it impossible to hit anywhere else than on the ground, and doing that would just make him very flat and incredibly dead. His mind could have made the body jump right away if only it hadn't been too busy with the lights flashing from the small-looking building next to the hotel. So pretty, and yet so cold, so emotionless...

Tala felt like the lights were blissfully drowning him, and everything he felt was suddenly somehow... _more_. He surrendered to the feeling and let it roam in his mind freely.

He wanted it to be like this forever. The wind in his hair, the city of Moscow around him, the moon throwing it's faint glow through the clouds upon the sleepless city, trying to compete with the lights which ruled the night and –

"Are we done here yet? Can we go away now? And could you _please_ stand a bit further away from the edge, you are making me nervous. It's a long way down if you fall, you know."

... and a nagging friend behind his back.

"Yes, mother", Tala sighed and turned to look at his friend, currently tapping his foot on the ground impatiently.

"Don't call me that," came the irritated answer. Tala flashed a grin.

"But it suits you so well, Bryan."

"Shut up, will you. Why oh why did I come here with you in the first place?" Bryan asked accusingly, throwing suffering glances towards the moon, as if the whole thing had been its fault. Tala just shrugged.

"Exactly. We are not even allowed to be here. We will get in serious trouble if they find out that you stole the key from that security-guard", Bryan kept on ranting, waving his arms and eyeing guiltily the doorway which would lead to maintenance stairway.

"Since when have you cared?"

"Since we started doing stupid things so that you could be stupid!"

Tala snickered. Normally, he might have been even offended, but right now it didn't matter to him even if Bryan did think he was being stupid. How could Bryan understand, anyway? He hadn't even looked at the scene below the building. Bryan didn't see the magic performed by the lights...

Tala's eyes fixed on the handrail cycling the roof. Why was it so low? Not even two feet! Tala estimated the height something around a foot and a half. Anyone could have climbed over it, hell; anyone could have _fallen_ over it. Well, Tala reminded himself quickly, most of the people weren't supposed to even be here. Maybe they didn't think it was necessary to put proper parapets here.

_I wonder if I could stand upon it. _

It was awfully narrow, and yes, one little misstep and nothing would save him anymore, but... you only live once, right?

"Tal- _What the fuck are you doing_?" Bryan screamed as he witnessed Tala lifting his other leg on the handrail and then pushing himself gently and carefully on top of it, swaying dangerously looking but not quite falling.

"I just want to feel free", Tala mumbled, trying to maintain his balance.

"You can surely feel just as free on the safer side of the parapet and, even better, at least 33 storeys lower!"

"You are sweet Bryan. Did you know that?" Tala turned to the one expedient he knew which would always shut Bryan up. Apparently the boy was just incapable of accepting praising comments.

Now to think of it, Bryan really _was_ rather sweet. Tala had to wonder about this for a moment. Why wasn't he actually ever considered Bryan as a potential boyfriend-material? If you excluded the reasons that Bryan never talked about anyone in a way which would have showed that the teen had even the slightest of interest to be a boyfriend to someone and that no one quite knew whether the boy liked girls, boys or both, that is. Bryan certainly, as Tala had already pointed out to himself, had the looks. He had the brains too. And even if everyone else might have thought that the seemingly cold Russian was just another asshole not worth knowing, Tala knew better. Bryan might have fooled everyone else to think that he was merely a cold-hearted bastard, but Tala and the rest of the guys had been there to witness Bryan's other sides too. He _could_ be a cold-hearted bastard at times, Tala admitted that without hesitation, but he was also a loyal friend and would never disappoint those whom he cared about.

Bryan truly was a good friend to Tala, the kind you did not want to lose. That could have been one of the primary reasons why Tala never even considered Bryan as someone to seriously start dating with. What if the thing between them would not work? What to do then? Tala looking at Bryan, Bryan looking at Tala, both of them silently wishing that none of it had ever happened... that was far too horrible to even think about. Tala mentally shook his head. To lose a dear friend just because you needed to play lovers with that someone? Of course there was this friendly flirting-thing going on between them all the time, but it could have not been considered as anything else than light-hearted playing.

There had also been that time when he had been crushing on Hiwatari, which had kept him pretty efficiently from eyeing any other guys. For two useless years he had longed after his old friend and then the crush had just slowly faded away. Two weeks ago he had stared at his blue-haired friend and realized that all he felt was happiness and joy for seeing him. The usual "butterflies in the belly"-feeling just wasn't there anymore. Maybe Tala had realized inside that it would have never worked between them. Maybe he had just realized that Kai's interests seemed to be elsewhere. However it was, it was now over.

Tala had never told anyone that he liked Kai in that way. Bryan had seemed to notice anyway, though. He had always been asking these questions from Tala.

"Are you going to tell him how you feel? Do you like him a lot? Do you love him?"

Tala replied by simply refusing to talk about Kai with Bryan, mostly because he feared that talking to Bryan would end up in Kai getting a freaky phone call. Few days ago, Tala had confessed to Bryan that he didn't feel the butterflies anymore when he was with Kai, just to make Bryan stop asking all the questions. Bryan, apparently, refused to believe him. This had, yet again, been proved when they had been driving to the hotel this morning.

"Are you _sure_ you wouldn't like to go with Kai instead of me?"

"Yes Bryan, I am sure."

"Positive?"

"Yes Bryan, just as positive as I was when you asked me the first time, and just as positive as I was when you asked me the tenth time. Could you please stop now?"

He hadn't. After the sixteenth time, Tala had snapped and asked furiously whether Bryan just somehow hated the idea of being alone with him. The other boy had glared at him and told him to stop thinking like that.

"Well in that case, are you somehow trying to pair me up with Hiwatari?" Tala had asked as accusingly as possible, hoping that it would make Bryan forget about the stupid questions. And it did... for a couple of minutes.

"Would you _want_ me to pair you up with Kai?"

After that, Tala had told the driver to stop the car and he had moved to sit on the front seat. He told Bryan that it was for the both of their sakes.

Tala blinked. He was still standing on the handrail, and Moscow was still around him, noisy and full of lights. He could see the city spreading out in front of his eyes.

"Tala, why are you doing this?" he heard Bryan ask.

"You wouldn't understand."

He knew that it was a lie as soon as he had said it out loud. If he would have actually explained how he wanted just once to be free from everything and replace the strange hollowness inside him by playing with his own life, Bryan would have understood. After all, he had been through pretty much the same things as Tala had. Maybe Bryan was fighting with same sort of emotions from time to time too? Maybe Bryan could have even helped him to make it better? Perhaps Bryan could have told him, that there were people who cared about him and loved him and wanted to help him to make his life better. It wasn't as if Tala didn't already know that, it was just that it was nice to hear it coming from someone else. Especially from Bryan, who so seldom said stuff like that.

_In a way, I guess, he really could be an ideal partner for me... Yeah, sure. If only the whole idea wouldn't be so damn ridiculous, that is. Bryan and me? Never going to happen. If only because Bryan would most likely hang himself before getting chained to a relationship with me._

Maybe it was time to get down from the parapet and let Bryan do his little "You irresponsible jackass!"-speech, Tala concluded. He tried moving his legs, which pointed out to be rather uneasy, while they seemed unwilling to move at all. He didn't even have the time to register what happened when a sudden gust of wind came, and Tala lost his balance.

There is a moment before falling, when you're not quite yet started moving but when you already know what's going to happen and that there's no way to stop it. Some people say that this moment is the very essence of ultimate freedom. To Tala, however, it was the moment of realization that he was going to die pretty painfully soon.

"Bry..." a faint whisper of shock left his lips and he started falling.

Only that he didn't.

After a few seconds of uncertainty, Tala opened up his eyes and to his relief, noticed that he was alive and still standing on the parapet. Everything was just as it had been a few minutes ago... No, wait. There was something different. Something.

Tala looked slowly down. He saw a pair of hands wrapped around his waist.

"Oh", slipped through his lips.

Bryan was holding him. No wonder he hadn't fell, then.

"When did you-"

"When you started falling."

"Oh."

The other one's voice had sounded a bit muffled. Now when he really concentrated, Tala was sure that he could feel something slightly resting against his lower back. And the hands, tightly pressing on his waist... Tala wondered whether the shirt he was wearing was too thin after all, since he could feel the heat radiating from Bryan's arms. It felt rather nice.

"I told you you should have wore more clothing. You are shaking"

It was now sure that his shirt was way too thin, he could feel Bryan's hot breath hitting his skin. A shiver went up his spine. Tala couldn't define whether it was because of the coldness, the mind-numbing fear or Bryan.

"Did you get your balance back yet?" Bryan asked in a low, raspy voice.

"Yeah..." Tala whispered, and he could feel Bryan's hands slowly starting to withdraw from his waist. The loss of warmth caused him to have a sudden moment of panic.

"Um... but... could you..?" Tala was too embarrassed to continue, but he held out his arm in a pleading manner. Bryan took the hint and gently yet firmly grabbed Tala's hand. He didn't let go even when Tala has standing right next to him and both of them had moved several feet away from the edge and the deceitful handrail.

Silence fell upon them now. Tala could just breathe and wonder whether he should mention that Bryan was still holding his hand. He decided not. After all, why should he needlessly bother the other teen?

"You fucking asshole!You could have died! Do you care about absolutely anyone except yourself? Do you think about anyone else? Hell, do you even _think_?"

So Bryan had started the talking. Oh, joy. Tala sighed and resisted the urge to ask Bryan to shut up and just keep holding his hand. That might have been just a bit awkward, so instead he ended up just briefly looking at the taller teen's face and then turning his gaze towards his shoes again. He hadn't seen Bryan so mad in years...

"What difference would it really make if I would have died? No, actually, let's put it this way: why do you even care?"

Tala had expected the good old "Because I'm your friend!" or, more likely when it was Bryan doing the talking, "Stop being such a woman and grow up already!". That was part of the reason why the answer he got threw him way out of guard.

"Because I don't want to die."

The randomness of the answer made Tala stop avoiding Bryan's eyes and, surprised and puzzled, he looked at the other boy, only to notice that part of the anger in other's face had been replaced with... fear? It wasn't the first time he had seen Bryan frightened - there were times in the abbey when no one could have been unafraid - but it was certainly unusual for him to let his fear show so visibly. When this happened, it was the sign that Bryan was too worried or frightened to even think about what others though, and _that_ was always a bad sign.

"Why would _my_ death make _you_ die?" Tala asked, incredulously. It didn't make sense, any of it. He noticed in passing that the anger on Bryan's face had disappeared thoroughly now, there was only fear and something else. Confusion? A feeling that was rare for Bryan to feel, and even rarer for him to let it to be seen.

"Because if you had fallen down from that parapet, I would have jumped right after you."

Tala could only stare. He was mesmerized by the moment, when time itself had seemed to stop moving and whole Moscow had suddenly grown silent.

"Why?" was the only word he could come up with.

"Because I love you, Tala."

Tala's eyes flew wide open. Since he had no idea what to say and Bryan seemed reluctant to say anything more, silence fell upon them again.

Tala had been close with Bryan since the time they had been only kids, and he had witnessed Bryan going through many emotions which some other people thought the pale teen was unable to feel altogether. Had he seen Bryan angered? Certainly. Scared? Sometimes. Confused? Rarely, but yes. Embarrassed? Never until now. Tala observed that the faintly blushed cheeks and hesitant expression made Bryan look rather charming, not to mention cute, in a clumsy, boyfriend-kind of way.

And they were still holding hands.

The clouds drifted apart a bit and the moon was allowed to shine untrammelled for a second or two. In Tala's opinion, the wan glow made Bryan look even paler than usual. And yet, the moon was able to do something which the bright lights were unable to. It showed Tala Bryan's face. The redhead felt like this could have been the first time he actually, truly saw Bryan. He had always heard about miracles, how almost blind people suddenly get their vision back. He couldn't help but wonder, whether it felt something similar to this.

"Bryan", Tala said quietly, surprising himself with his sudden calmness. Bryan didn't show in any way that he had heard Tala spoke.

"Bryan, look at me", Tala ordered, a bit more sharply than he had meant to, and he instantly regretted it. The emerald eyes, cast upon the roof under their feet, seemed to get darker.

"I don't need to hear this", the boy mumbled, loosened his grip from Tala's hand and turned to leave. By instinct, Tala connected their hands again and stopped Bryan from moving any further. "What is it, now?" Bryan snarled, still refusing to look at the redhead. 

"We need to –"

"Talk? The hell we do", Bryan snapped and tried to wriggle off from Tala's grip, without much success.

"I am not letting you go". Tala said matter-of-factly.

"Don't you think you have embarrassed me quite enough? Just let me leave, and we don't have to see each other ever again" Bryan said in a shattered voice.

"Bryan, would you please look at me?"

When Bryan stubbornly kept his stare at his shoes, Tala settled his fingers gently under Bryan's chin and lifted the other one's head so that the he was practically forced to look into Tala's aqua blue eyes. They both just stared a while. Tala felt like his courage was failing and he didn't know what to do from now on.

"Bryan..." he pleaded, begging the other one to do something while he felt unable to. He knew what he _wanted_ to do, but he just couldn't bring himself to actually do it.

It seemed that the years spent together proved to be more useful than ever. Bryan looked at him observantly, his eyes widened a bit and, awkwardly and blushing, he wrapped his arms around Tala's waist and pulled him a bit closer. Tala smiled to the sight of blushed cheeks and nestled himself against the warm body.

"I _told _you to wear more clothing, didn't I?"

Tala didn't reply, just chuckled lightly and settled on smiling against Bryan's neck.

"Shame on you. You are using me", Bryan accused.

"Indeed. I am using your body heat for my own, selfish needs. Punish me?" Tala asked playfully.

"Tempt me enough and I might".

There was a moment of pondering silence.

"Bryan?" Tala asked, voice suddenly serious. Bryan tried to look at the redhead, but couldn't see his expression. He immediately seemed to think that things had been too good to be true anyway, and loosened his grip on Tala again.

"Yeah?"

"Kiss me, you fool!" Tala exclaimed theatrically, grinning wider than ever.

Bryan stared at him for a while and then rolled his eyes.

"Drama queen much?"

"Are you going to do as I asked or must I order you?"

Bryan just smiled mischievously.

"Oh, fine then! Bryan Kuznetsov, as your captain I order you to kiss me."

Bryan decided to be a good boy and do as he was told.

And in that moment, it seemed, every light in Moscow dimmed just a bit in order to let the moon shine clearer and the stars invaded the suddenly cloudless sky. Sometimes, just sometimes, the lights know when to give up.

* * *

I have to admit... I have no idea whether Bryan's eyes really are emerald-coloured or not.

And yeah, I do acknowledge that the characters are a bit (or a lot...) OOC in this.

Well, what can I say... It's much harder to actually manage to write the characters IC than OOC. It's up to you to decide whether the characters are too OOC for your own taste.

Please leave a review and do tell me what you think.


	2. by You

Title: Blinded

Rating: T

Pairing: Bryan/Tala, mentions onesided Tala/Kai. Also hints about Kai/?. I have my thoughts about the ?-person, but I won't share them with you right now. If you wish for an answer, look at my profile. I'm sure you'll figure it out.

Warning: Includes the idea of boy x boy, in other words yaoi. Foul language can be found within the text. Also, there will be angsting. Nothing beats the good ol' teenage-angst.

Disclaimer: Beyblade and it's characters do not belong to me, I'm just borrowing them to amuse myself and (hopefully) the others. 

Beta: Nancy. She didn't die of boredom while reading and correcting this. I'll take that as a good sign.

A/N: I swear, this was supposed to be only something like eight pages long!

I need to remind people that even though I did get my inspiration from a genuine hotel located in Moscow, the hotel in which Tala and Bryan are staying is fictional. Not only because they would have to be 21 to be able to check in to the real-life hotel.

The chapter 2 takes place before the happenings in chapter 1, though I'm sure that everyone will notice it quite quickly when reading the story.

And now... Katie, if you are reading this... I wish you happy birthday from the bottom of my heart. I know, it's a bit (over a week, to be exact) too late, but better late than never, right? This chapter is dedicated to you, since you are one of the best friends I have and also because we both worship Bryan. Hail Bryan!

And oh. If anyone wonders the seemingly weird first sentence of this chapter, it's put there because I promised Tuomas that I would put it there. To honour Ronsu.

Reviews and constructive criticism are still very much appreciated.

* * *

"The prophet has arrived! He is here! And.. and... there's a little, orange elephant on his head..."

Bryan could feel a stare on the back of his head.

"It's the TV", he muttered. Somehow, it didn't seem to make things any better. The itching sensation on his skin did not go away.

"It's not like I'm even watching it", he tried to defend himself against the stare. It backfired. The person staring at him moved now right in front of him and kept on staring. Bryan could feel his brains slowly melting into goo.

"I hate TV", Bryan said. He instinctively brushed his ears, like trying to check whether his brains were leaking out of his head.

The stare really was a brain killer. Normally Bryan would have just told whoever was staring at him to get out of his breathing-space before bones would get broken, but this person's staring was better and much more professional than the usual ones.

It annoyed Bryan that he was so incompetent to normal act while under that stare. And he really had tried his best not to sound like an idiot in the ears of the other one. In some way, that had actually worked. He didn't sound idiotic, he just sounded like he didn't use his brains at all.

Tala raised his eyebrow and looked unimpressed.

"Surely that's a sin."

Bryan looked blank for a moment.

"Hating television. And besides... for someone who hates TV, you spend awfully much of your time watching it."

Bryan could see his own credibility crashing down on the floor and bursting into flames. In his moment of desperation, he turned to his last resort. He smirked evilly, and was pleased to see that Tala instantly became more alert.

"Yes, that doesn't really make any sense, does it now? But that's just typical of me. I'm sure that Kai would have been able to say things better for your liking."

The react was just as Bryan had guessed it would be. Tala paled a bit, then reddened and looked downright murderous and finally revolutionary sat down next to Bryan, crossed his arms over his chest and closed his mouth to signal that he wasn't going to say anything more to this idiot next to him. Bryan chuckled.

In Tala - Bryan - Tala -dictionary, Tala's gesture was called "the adorable moping". Bryan had learned to love it, and not only because it was for his eyes only. At least almost for his eyes only. Kai had the privilege to see it too, sometimes, but Bryan did the best he could to ignore that fact.

Bryan never said he was sorry, he was renowned for that. However, there were little signs which told to the people he cared about that he was apologizing to them. He would have probably showed one of these signs to Tala if he hadn't been so tempted to tease his friend a bit more.

"I wonder what Kai would say if he was here."

He received a hard hit on his arm as an answer.

"And you hit like a girl."

"And I'm really beginning to regret not asking Kai to come with me here, thank you very much", Tala said with his eyes closed. That was the magic-sentence. Bryan got serious and put his hand on Tala's shoulder.

"Maybe you are right. Maybe you should have picked Kai. I can't do anything with my now seriously hurting and possibly broken arm anyway."

Tala grinned lightly.

"Kai might not have been as nice company in bed. He snores."

Bryan looked at Tala and grinned back. Right now, there were no words needed. Tala would eventually say something, no doubt about it, but right now both of them could just sit there and think.

When Bryan had first realized that he was in love with Tala, he hadn't been as shocked as he thought he would be. It had been a much greater shock when he realized that he had started liking Tala more than as a friend in the first place. But that had been a while ago now. He had adapted to the fact that he had a crush, just as later on he had adapted to the fact that he was in love. He had began to thought of it as a necessity which could not be neglected and would not go away, he just had to try and live with it the best he could and make sure that no one found out about it. Someone knowing about his feelings would have made him vulnerable, and there were very few things in this world which Bryan hated more than that.

Things hadn't gone as he planned. Just like he had noticed how Tala longed after Kai, Spencer and Ian seemed to have guessed how he felt about Tala. They hadn't known very long, that much Bryan knew, but long enough to start making some really nasty hints from time to time. Bryan was constantly afraid that one day they would say something critical and even more people would find out.

There was most likely some evil idea behind the fact that those two had planned this whole hotel-incident. He had seen their faces when he and Tala had stepped inside the taxi, and in that moment he had made a promise to have a little chat with the two of them once he and Tala would get back from the hotel. A chat, in which a sledgehammer would most likely be involved.

"What are you thinking?" Tala asked suddenly.

"I was thinking about what lovely silence there was."

Tala cocked his head a bit, looking doubtful.

"Spencer and Ian, if you must know", Bryan confessed. "And it's not sweet", he added after seeing Tala's expression. The other just smirked impishly, a gesture which caused the outer-Bryan to look merely annoyed but made the inner-Bryan feel a bit light-headed. He came to wonder once again whether Tala really knew just how irresistable he looked. The answer was, of course, yes. He would have to be allergic to mirrors and deaf to all comments to not know.

It would have all been much easier if Tala weren't gay. Back then, when Tala still hadn't told them, his feelings towards the redhead had been mere puppy love, and he had been almost satisfied with the situation. He had told himself that Tala was straight and what he was experiencing was a hopeless crush which would fade off eventually. Sooner or later things would return back to the way they had been in the beginning and he would like Tala only as a friend.

Then Tala had came and told them that he was gay. Bryan had been paralyzed. His hopeless crush had somehow turned into a little less hopeless one, and it had scared him almost senseless. For some time he had felt as if he was dreaming awake; everything was a bit hazy and only thing on his mind was the words "he likes guys". Then he had got a grip of the situation and forced himself to return to normal act. After all, the fact that Tala liked guys did not mean that he liked – or would ever like – Bryan in that way.

After few months Bryan had noticed that his crush has developed more serious aspects. He began to call it "love" in his thoughts.

"This could be one of the most productive conversations we've ever had."

Bryan glanced at extremely bored-looking Tala.

"I can start making Kai-puns if you'd like", he offered. Tala only glared.

"It's not that desperate yet."

They stopped talking again. Bryan could see that Tala was thinking something now. Most likely he was questioning why had he ordered the other one to come with him. Bryan nodded gratified. He liked it when Tala was thinking about him. It didn't matter so much what kind of thoughts they were, at least he was in Tala's mind. And if he was in Tala's mind, he had to mean at least something to the redhead.

Or... he could be thinking about Kai, evil little voice in his head whispered. Bryan frowned and tried to smother the thought, but it was too late. Now Kai's face floated to his mind. Kai with that "I'm better than you"-look, which was usually reserved to Kai's opponents. It was ridiculous, since Bryan and Kai weren't even competing. As far as he knew, Kai wasn't interested in Tal.a more than as a friend.

Maybe that's what really gets you down, the little voice kept whispering. He beats you even when he's not trying to.

In general Bryan liked Kai, he really did. But there was these times when he hoped that the blue-haired teen either had never existed or at least had never came to the abbey.

This was, of course, circumventing the real problem. No doubt if Kai wouldn't exist there would be some other guy Tala would fancy. Bryan's real problem wasn't that Tala liked someone else, it was that Tala didn't like him. It was just much easier to be bitter with others that to wonder what was wrong with him.

Tala sighed. Somehow Bryan just knew that now Tala was certainly thinking about Kai.

"I really hope that the Kai-thing would get off between us."

Bryan blinked at the double-meaning of the sentence.

"Your point?" he asked, trying to cover his sudden nervousness.

"It seems that whenever we are talking these days, it's always something about Kai or Kai is somehow related to it. Could we just leave Kai out of this weekend? I suffered with my crush for two years, so I've had more than my share of it", Tala concluded. Bryan let out an amused snort, which Tala must have misinterpret, since he bit his lip and crossed his arms again, looking annoyed beyond limits.

_Two years of suffering, you say? Try four. In fact, try two years of having a crush, and then two years of being in love._

"We'll act like Kai never existed if that makes you feel better", Bryan said without any particular emotions. Tala looked relieved.

"Thank you", he said, let his hands drop beside his torso and closed his eyes looking peaceful. Bryan kept looking at him for a while.

What was so amazing about Kai anyway? Nothing that Bryan didn't possess too, surely. Yes, Kai had his blue hair and money, but neither of those things seemed to be an obsession to Tala. It could have not been the heart-warming personality either because Kai did not have such thing. And Kai was practically off the markets too. Bryan could only wonder why it was so that Tala seemed to be unable to realize that Kai already fancied someone else. Bryan thought it was obvious, had been like that more than two, almost three years. And it had only been getting stronger with time. Knowing Kai, it was just a matter of arranging it before dating would be contemporary.

It was true that Tala had told him that he had no more crush towards Kai. Bryan didn't believe it. Even if Tala thought that his feelings had truly faded off, they could come back. Maybe it would take a week, maybe month, maybe even year, but it was almost certain that at some point, they would come back.

"So instead of talking about Kai we are going to be mute?"

Bryan concentrated his thoughts back together and looked at Tala, who had, from the looks of it, been staring at him quite a while already.

"You mentioned the K-word", Bryan said smirking.

"Bry!" Tala cried out. "Why do you even need to ask all these things about Kai and talk about him all the time?"

"To piss you off", Bryan answered, voice as filled with honey as possible. For that he received the second punch of the day, but this time it was much more playful.

Tala would never know the real reason for Bryan's questions. As long as Tala would get annoyed and try not to talk about it, it meant that Bryan was, in some way, safe. When Tala would actually answer his questions and talk about things, it would mean that something had happened, and there would go Bryan's hope. Without his hope, he had pretty much nothing.

"It's a nice room", Bryan started. His small-talk-topics were kind of few in numbers, so he hoped desperately that Tala would get back to his talkative-mode. It usually saved Bryan a lot of trouble.

"It's more than nice, Bryan!" Tala got exited and literally sprang off the couch. Bryan relaxed. This was more usual situation for him.

"Have you looked at the view? It's absolutely lovely", Tala said, standing in front of the window and cracking the curtains.

"I've been too busy sitting here", Bryan mused, got off from the couch and came to stand next to Tala. Then he looked outside.

"Well? Beautiful, isn't it?" Tala asked, looking expectant. Bryan came to a conclusion that Tala must have seen things differently than him, because all he saw was the same old Moscow he'd been looking at for the past 17 years. Maybe in a bit different view angle, sure, 29th floor will do that to you, but still the same city. He turned to look at Tala, smiled and hoped that it was a good enough answer.

Apparently is was, because Tala moved away from the window and started marvelling several other things in their hotel-room. Bryan couldn't understand the fuzz. Yes, the room was spacious, comfortable and nicely decorated, but so was their home.

"Seriously Tala, all this is not as fancy as you make it sound."

"Bryan, this is a five-star-hotel and they have televisions in their elevators. That's fancy enough for me. Besides..." he pointed to the still rumbling television, "We don't have a satellite TV."

Bryan face-palmed.

"We don't need one! Spencer and Ian spend way too much time watching TV as it is."

"Pot calling the kettle black here, mister 'I-hate-TV'."

Bryan rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, a sign for Tala to change the subject fast.

"And there's an espresso machine!"

Bryan gave Tala a really questionable look.

"You don't even drink coffee!"

"No, but you do!"

They stared at each other a while, both determined to not to be the first one to look elsewhere. After a time that felt like forever, Bryan looked away blinking and Tala grinned victoriously. He kept on presenting the good sides of the room as if he had been some sort of salesman; desperate to sell the house to someone before it turns out that place was full of mold and rats. All Bryan could think of was those deep, blue eyes which seemed to absorb anyone bold enough to look upon them. While being target of that stare, Bryan had felt his brains becoming liquid again.

"Bryan..." Tala's voice was now a bit uncertain. Bryan turned to look and saw Tala standing close to what he assumed to be the bedroom door. Tala looked at him, eyes questioning, like searching an answer rather from his face than from his words.

"Are you sure you don't mind us sleeping on the same bed?"

Well, that didn't require lot of thinking. Bryan nodded his head to show that he certainly didn't mind. He tried not to look suspiciously eager.

"I mean, I could sleep on the couch if you –"

"Tala", Bryan interrupted, "we've known each other almost 13 years. I'm sure we are able to once sleep on the same bed, wouldn't you think?"

Tala half-smiled.

"Alright then. What are our plans for this evening?"

"We need to have plans?"

Tala rolled his eyes and started flipping through the hotel-brochure.

"Dance floor sounds good", he said casually after a while, trying to cover his grin. Bryan stared at him, eyes widened.

"I don't dance", he stated once he got over the shock.

"I'm sure you'd be great", Tala tried. A glare told him to quit while they still weren't arguing about it. Tala gave up.

"Swimming pool then? No, wait, I know better. Jacuzzi", Tala suggested, clearly looking pleased with his idea. Bryan wasn't as exited.

_To get to hot, bubbly water with attractive guy in little clothing and possibly even have some privacy? That's an easy one to answer._

"Absolutely not."

Tala looked disappointed.

"Tough customer", he muttered and kept eyeing the brochure. Bryan hoped that they could spend the rest of the evening fully dressed, maybe get to some place with few other people who would not bother them and then be there so late that when they would return to their room, he would fall asleep immediately without thinking anything, not even the person sleeping next to him.

"It says here that we could order a masseuse to our room", Tala told. Bryan was about to say that they might save some money and he could do the massaging when he thought about it again. Ideas like "hey, I'll take my shirt off!" and "could you take your pants off as well?" were bound to come up and destroy everything. He shuddered lightly.

"What's with the face? I'm sure that some astonishing young lady would love to come over here to give the famous Bryan Kuznetsov a very special kind of massage..." Tala said with a sly grin. Bryan just frowned.

"If I'm getting", Bryan tried his best not to grimace while saying the next words, "the young lady, what do you get?"

Tala just smiled.

"Oh, I'm perfectly happy with making my friend happy."

_There are better ways for you to make me happy than getting me a loose-moraled female. You could start by throwing that brochure away and giving me a kiss._

Tala kept browsing the pages.

"I wonder what 'VIP-services' are..."

Bryan had the unwanted privilege to see Tala's face.

"Whatever they are, I'm sure they are _not_ what you are thinking of right now", he said sternly. Tala grinned evilly.

_You really should throw the brochure away and kiss me._

Tala threw the brochure away. Bryan nearly had a heart-attack.

"I haven't checked the bathroom yet" Tala cried out and hurried towards the closed door. Bryan sat down feeling extremely bitter. Soon he heard Tala gasp.

_He's going to tell me something completely pointless in three, two, on –_

"The bathroom floor is heated!"

"Go figures", Bryan muttered, resignedly stood up and walked to the bathroom doorway.

"And look, separate bathtub _and_ a walk-in shower. Want to rekindle some old memories and go together?" Tala asked playfully smiling and gave Bryan a nudge. The latter swallowed hastily and shook his head a bit.

"I'll pass, thank you."

The smile never left Tala's face, but Bryan could have sworn that something died in his friend's eyes.

"Fine then", Tala said in a dreadfully bright voice, "I'll just go alone and take a bath. After that, we might go and search a place where to eat. I'm starving."

With that, Tala closed the bathroom door and locked it, leaving Bryan alone and free to feel absolutely miserable about himself.

Bryan really wished he could explain it all to Tala. Every time he rejected his friend's more or less playful invitations, he could see the reflection of sorrow and hurt in his eyes. He could see that Tala did not understand. And how could he? Even though Tala was very much aware of how many people really admired him, most of them because of his looks but pretty many also because of his interesting personality, he seemed to be too oblivious to notice how Bryan felt about him, how he looked at him, how he was jealous of every other man who Tala seemed to be interested with.

If Tala would dare, he'd most likely ask why Bryan couldn't just share the blasted shower. He would keep on by asking what could possibly be so horrible about it. He would demand as answer. Bryan could give him one, but it would not be anything that Tala had expected.

_You and me in a same bathroom, naked, warm water dripping on our skins, so close to each other that I could just reach my hand and touch you? My every, bloody cell would have to be focused on staying and acting normal and not thinking about anything. I have experience about these sorts of things. I still shared the bathroom with you when I had the crush on you, remember? Believe me, it's not easy. And now my feelings are much, much stronger. So just how long would I be able to be in the same space with you without staring at you, without touching you? My guess is about 5 seconds. How about yours?_

Bryan sighed. Even if he would be able to keep his mind in control, it's much harder to keep the body in control. It would require only one look, one wrong gesture, one wrongly said word from Tala, and his body would react without asking Bryan whether it was allowed to.

_Damn blood-circulation. _

Bryan glared at the wall. Yeah, that might be a bit hard to explain. Keyword here being _hard_. He could really just imagine it all happening. Tala would stare – at his face, hopefully – and give him that famous "what the hell?"-look. Bryan couldn't come up any good lie, – not that there probably were so many good lies to explain why you got an erection while looking at another guy – so he would end up saying nothing, which would give Tala plenty of room to think up a proper answer. It wasn't too difficult to guess what Tala would guess.

He hated the fact that his current behaviour made Tala unhappy. He could see how Tala's eyes saddened whenever Bryan said or did something that didn't make any sense to the redhead. It hurt him enough to make him wish that things would be completely normal between them, not for his sake but for Tala's.

He would always remember the moment when Tala had came to talk to him about the shower-thing. First Bryan had been scared that Tala had realized something critical, but then the other had just asked him whether he didn't shower with the others because Tala happened to be gay. Bryan remembered wishing then that it had indeed been the reason. If he had been just homophobic, Tala would have without a doubt won him over in no time and things would have gone back to normality.

Now, if this had been a normal situation, Tala's question would have received an answer like "stop making such a big deal out of everything", or possibly "screw you". But Bryan had seen the tears. Tala wasn't a person who cried over small things, so the tears made Bryan think for a while. The tears made him realize how much the whole thing actually bothered his friend. And they made him realize how incredibly beautiful Tala was.

In general Bryan tried to avoid calling people beautiful because it seemed very superficial thing to do. In that moment however, there had been no other words to describe it. The look of uncertainty and genuine sadness had replaced the usual, confident smirk, giving Tala an irresistible touch of innocence. Bryan obviously loved Tala's smirk - the hidden naughtiness of it gave him very "I-want-to-push-you-against-the-wall-and-do-you-right-here-right-now-kind of thoughts, but this look of begging, pleading uncertainty... It had appealed straight to his supposedly non-existing softer side. It made him want to do things that no one believed he would do: he wanted to hug the shorter boy, tell him how much he meant to him and maybe hold him forever. He had wanted it to be one of those Hollywood-moments, the ones you see on the movies and wish that the same would happen to you too. He wanted to be the knight in the shining armour; he wanted to kiss those salty tears away.

Of course it occurred to him that doing so would make Tala either scream, place a well-aimed kick on his kidneys or probably both. Goodbye, friendship. So instead of kissing, he had tried to be friendly and understanding and make his friend's concerns go away. He hoped that he had achieved that much, if nothing else. At least Tala hadn't mentioned anything about the shower-thing ever again. But to Bryan, his friend's eyes had always said more than his words, and from his eyes Bryan could see that Tala hadn't stopped thinking about it. One day, he would find out the truth.

_Not that it matters, really. My whole life has been waiting for the "one day". One day Tala will understand I love him, one day Tala will not blame me for loving him, one day Tala will love me back._

Bryan closed his eyes for a moment.

_Why can't you see me as anything else than a friend? You know that I don't have the courage to ever say anything to anyone about my feelings, even less to you. There's no one I can tell about these things, and you have no idea how that makes me feel! If you would have ever needed to talk about your crush on Kai, you and I both know that I would have been there for you. But who's there for me? Who can I talk to? Only Spencer and Ian know about this, and in all due respect to them, there's no way in hell I would ever talk to them about my innermost feelings. So here we are. We remain friends, and I remain emotionally torn apart, asking myself why can't you love me. It would be a good start if you'd even notice me. Really notice me._

Bryan banged his head on the wall.

"Why can't you see _me_?"

"Oh, I can see you alright. It seems to me that you can't see me, if anything. I mean damn, I've been here, right next to you, and you don't even notice me?" Tala asked, one eyebrow raised. Bryan turned his head slowly, without any sudden movement.

"How long have you been there?" his voice was calm like a mother's whose child had just broken the valuable Ming-vase.

"Long enough to witness you staring at the wall and looking absent. On the other hand, knowing you that could mean I've been here for hours."

"I _said_ –" Bryan started in a raised voice, but Tala stopped him there.

"I've been here less than half a minute, Bryan! Just relax, why don't you? I didn't see – or hear – you doing anything that should give you a reason to act like that on me", Tala said in a bored voice. Bryan felt a bit ashamed for his reaction.

"Social acts is not my best side, it seems. Had fun in the shower?" he offered this almost-apology with a smirk. Tala quickly returned the gesture.

"Fairly enough."

There was a knock on the door which led out of their room. Bryan gave Tala a questioning look.

"That must be the room service", Tala replied with a shrug.

Another questioning look.

"I ordered us something to eat before we get to the restaurant."

_Another_ que –

"There's a telephone in the bathroom."

Another polite knock came from the door. Bryan looked at the door as if it was about to explode.

"Could you please go and fetch the stuff? I could use the opportunity and get dressed."

It came to Bryan's attention that Tala wasn't wearing anything else than a towel and a smirk. He thanked all the forces for late revelations on the way to the door.

On the other side of the door there was a man in his middle twenties with a dark, messy hair and a tortured smile which told Bryan that the guy had carried way too many trays on strangers' rooms. It was almost certain that this person would also be in a band and own a very interesting taste in music. Bryan gave the man an experiencing evil glare. It did not scare him off.

"Your order, sir", the man said and swayed the tray in a what he seemingly thought to be a tempting way. Bryan gave the man another stare, this time less evil and more curious.

"You called and ordered the food, they told me to bring the tray to room number 213 and here I am!" the man claimed and managed to do a little bow. Never until now had Bryan heard a voice which itself seemed to smile.

A thought came to his head. Man had said "you", as in him, Bryan. He must have thought that Bryan had made the order. Bryan was about to say that Tala was the guilty one, but somehow the words just turned into a meek shrug. The man looked quickly at the paper he was holding.

"Strawberries and a bowl of whipped cream. That would be 1015 rubles, thank you very much sir."

Bryan rolled his eyes at Tala's orders, a sight that the other man clearly missed, and gave him the money as well as a suitable tip. The man nodded appreciatively and gave him another haunting smile. Bryan thanked as civilly as he could and took the tray. He was about to close the door and go tease Tala about his choice of food when the bellhop stopped him by saying:

"Sir! I shall need your signing here!"

Bryan groaned, took the pen and signed as quickly as he could. To his misluck, the man decided to have a look at the name that was written.

"Bryan Kuznetsov? _The_ Bryan Kuznetsov?" the man asked interrogatively. If Tala hadn't given Bryan all those speeches on how to act properly among fans and other people, he would have just banged the door closed at this point. Now, he needed to stay there, be interesting and possibly even talk.

_Maybe if I just glare at him silently, he will get my point and leave?_

The man's appearance seemed to change right in front of Bryan's eyes. The sunny, helpful smile disappeared and was replaced with a tired look of an overworked man who hoped to be somewhere else. The man ran his fingers through the black hair and sighed.

"Look, I hate to bother you like this, but I've got this friend, Kath, who's a really, _really_ huge fan of yours. If she hears that I met you and did not ask for a autograph or a picture - and believe me, she _will_ hear it somehow –, she's going to kill me with a spoon. I know that you probably get disturbed with requests like this all the time and since it's your day out, you most likely don't give a damn to sign anything voluntarily, but could you _please_ place your autograph on some paper I can snag to her and thus save my life? Unless you already have some signed pictures you give to your fans or something like that."

Bryan would never understand how someone could be interested in having his autograph. His name on a piece of paper, not even nicely written. What was the point in that? And those fan-photos which some celebrities signed to their fans... Did people really think that he was the kind of person who'd pose to camera and then sign the pictures nicely and satisfied while singing Kumbaya and drinking apple tea?

"I guess this is not the best possible moment to ask for the autograph, huh?" the man continued, giving Bryan a muted smile. "I wonder why they all end up ordering strawberries and whipped cream for their dates? You'd think that it's so cliché that people would order something else, just for the kicks of it. But I guess it's a classic. And I do have to admit that the ladies don't seem to mind."

_Okay, if I sign a damn paper, will this guy leave me al – hooold on. "Ladies"? _

"No need to look so freaked out. It's your business what you do on your free time, not mine and not the press'. My job as a bellhop is just to wish you and your lady a very lovely night", the man said, rolling his eyes.

_He thinks I'm here with a girl._

Bryan didn't know whether to laugh, cry or hit the man with the cream-bowl.

"Oh, just remembered... The hotel policy orders me to say the next words: If there's _anything else_ you need, it's a 24 hour room service, so feel free to order at any time."

The amused snort when "anything else" was said was enough for Bryan to realize what the man thought that his plans for spending the rest of the night were.

He was tempted with the three choices again, and this time the last one seemed clearly the best one. Even if the target wouldn't be the man in front of him, Bryan would certainly hit _someone_ with that bowl.

"My strawberries!"

Bellhop and Bryan both flinched and as a one man turned to look at Tala, who had just appeared out of the bathroom. Tala smiled at them and came to stand next to Bryan. Bryan doubted that the bellhop couldn't have looked more shocked than he did right then even if Tala had been count Dracula himself.

"You paid him already, right?" Tala made sure while taking the tray from Bryan. Bryan was in loss of words, so he just nodded.

"Good then. I'll be eating these in our bedroom, if anyone asks."

With that, Tala scurried away, leaving Bryan and the bellhop just standing there. The latter stared and gaped like a fish on dry land.

"Um.. sir.. I am deeply, deeply sorry... I... I didn't... didn't know that..." the man staggered, apparently now back in his bellhop-role, and looked extremely embarrassed. Bryan was about to come up with something mean and vengeful to say, but those dark puppy-dog eyes behind the mass of hair mellowed down his normal self a bit. He ended up just sighing.

"This might have been partly my fault."

Apparently the man did know something about his mean reputation, since he looked as though he didn't believe his own ears. Bryan didn't think much of it, because he wouldn't have believed his ears either if someone would have told him about this the day before.

"Bry, if you want some strawberries, you'd better get your well-trained ass in here!" came the joyful call. Bryan winced.

"Erm... I'll be off then. Have a good night, sir", the man said nervously and bowed a bit.

"I can always try", Bryan muttered and surprised himself by closing the door silently instead of banging it closed. He leaned against the door for a while and then placed his steps towards the bedroom.

Tala was laying on the bed and playing with a strawberry. There was some cream on his lips. Bryan grabbed the door handle so tightly it hurt. He had a strong urge to make a sudden pounce and lick the cream off from those lips. Tala spotted him, smiled and tried to hand him the plate.

"Strawberries for you?"

Bryan raised his eyebrow.

"Pretty interesting food-choice."

"Don't give me that look, I've always wanted to order something like this from the room service", Tala said defendingly.

"That bellhop thought that I ordered them!"

No visible effect.

"He thought that I was here with a girl!"

The grin on Tala's face was plain evil.

"Did he now?"

Bryan became instantly sorry about saying anything at all.

"Why did he have to think that you were here with a girl? Why not with a guy? In fact, how come it was so hard for him to believe that you and I could be here, eating strawberries and flirting shamelessly with each other?"

"Because strawberries and cream seem to be a girl-thing and we ain't flirting shamelessly?"

"Why aren't we then?"

It took all Bryan's mind-strength to pronounce the next line:

"Because that's what you do when you are a couple or in love and we ain't either."

A smirk told Bryan that Tala was in his playful mood again.

"We ain't? And here I was, about to start calling you my honeybun."

"I'm sure you were, lovemuffin."

Tala snickered and Bryan felt couraged enough to take a strawberry.

"No cream?"

Bryan shook his head. Somehow, the white colour and the licking-part made him stay as far away as he could from the bowl, for his sake and for Tala's.

"You could just admit it, you'd like to eat the cream off from my bare, naked body", Tala said, smiling seductively. Bryan swallowed.

_Oh, hell yes..._

"You got me there", Bryan said in as dull voice as he could. As a result, Tala dipped his fingers in the cream and waved them at Bryan.

"Have fun then", he said, obviously trying to compress his laughter. Bryan, on the other hand, was trying to compress his sudden, ground-shaking lust.

"Ack, Tala, you disgusting little pervert", he said, pushing every word out through his teeth while trying to keep the "take off your clothes and let's get busy"-words inside his own head.

"You love me anyway", Tala replied with a smirk and started licking the cream off from his own fingers. Bryan was about to let out a longing moan, but he was able to stop himself before the damage was done.

_Yes Tala. I love you. More than you'll ever know._

"I didn't hear you answer", Tala said in a moping tone.

"That's because I didn't."

"You don't love me anymore!"

At this point, Bryan threw some cream at Tala, who responded with curses and almost lethal doze of slightly mushed strawberries.

People always think that food-fights only happen in the movies. Clearly, the people are wrong.

In the end they called it a draw. Bryan soon came to realize why was it such a bad idea to have real-life food-fights. It messed places up. Their bed, to be more exact, was messed up. Tala was in the middle of the mess, just laying there and laughing. Bryan sat on the edge of the bed, looking at Tala and smiling a bit wistfully, pondering the same question he would always ponder after things like these.

What if Tala actually knew about Bryan's feelings? What if all of this was just a big, twisted joke and it's only purpose was to make him feel bad in the end? What if Tala did this to him because the redhead was truly in his heart an evil, sadistic creature , who just hated all the likes of Bryan?

Tala was currently trying to get pieces of strawberries out of his hair. Bryan looked at him and couldn't understand what made him think the way he did. Of course Tala was - in a way – a mean, cruel and definitely sadistic personality, but never to Bryan. At least not if the situation was as serious as this was. But it could not be denied that the way they acted out was a bit weird sometimes, just like they really had been a genuine couple. Bryan hoped that what he feared would never turn out to be true. Tala was the one person who he had always trusted the most and it seemed terrible to imagine that Tala, out of all the people, would end up being the one who would hurt him the most.

Even though Bryan loved those flirty moments he shared with Tala, he hated them just as much. What they did was give him samples, a little taste of what his life could be if he would have been together with Tala. It would also make him remember how that would never be reality. That made the experience bittersweet and cruelly addicting.

"Bry?"

Bryan came back from his thoughts and gave Tala a questioning look.

"Let's go get something to eat."

"Suits me. Pick a place, you probably know the eating-places much better than I do."

"The bar on the top floor? There", Tala decided. Then he looked at Bryan.

"We can't possibly go in there looking like this", he mumbled, shaking his head.

"Yes we can."

"Bryan, your face is covered with cream."

"I don't care!"

Bryan risked a glance. The smile on Tala's face was plain nasty.

"So, we have booked a room together, we sleep on the same bed, strawberries and whipped cream are ordered into this room, the bellhop expects you to be here with a girl but instead he sees me, the last thing he hears before he leaves is me shouting you to get your well-trained ass in our bedroom and now, some time later, we appear in a bar and you have some sort of white stuff all over your face. Promising, isn't it?"

Bryan made a half-hearted attempt to suffocate Tala with a pillow.

When Tala was finally able to get the pillow of his face, they both ended up cleaning themselves a bit and, in Tala's case, changing clothes. After that, they would have left to the bar if Bryan hadn't began staring at Tala's clothing.

"Tala..." he started, eyeing the white shirt his friend was wearing.

"Yes, honeybun?"

Bryan sighed.

"Enough with that kind of names. Don't you think that you should... emh... wear something more?"

Tala looked at himself on the mirror.

"No", he said with a shrug and started searching for the room-keys.

"Tala, I really do think that you should wear more clothing."

"Well, I don't", Tala answered peacefully while throwing stuff away in search of the lost keys.

"Lovemuffin, put some clothes on, for heaven's sake!"

At this point, Tala turned to look at him and blinked. Then he grinned.

"I would say that what you just said sounded somehow adorably cute, but I do not wish to die just yet. So, what's wrong with these clothes, then? Shirt and jeans. Something that everyone wears. Should not upset anyone."

"It's not the jeans I am worried about, it's that shirt."

Tala took another look at the mirror.

"What's wrong with it? I can't see anything."

"It's really thin", Bryan said while trying not to look at it.

"What do mean 'thin'? No it's not", Tala claimed.

"I can almost see through it, so yeah, it's thin."

"As much as I love the fact that you are looking at my body so closely", Tala said and caused Bryan to almost drop the keys he had just found, "I don't think that anyone else will give a damn even if I'd go there without a shirt at all."

"Fine then. Just don't expect me to save your skinny ass when the masses of female-fans will come and try to rape you because you shirt provoked them."

Tala smirked.

"Make that sexy, hot male-fans and I might not want to get rescued at all."

After some more change of words, they finally managed to get to the bar, Tala still wearing the same white shirt. A few people in the bar seemed to recognize them, but none seemed willing enough to come and talk to them. Bryan felt relieved. They chose a small table on the corner, right next to a huge window, and started browsing through the choices.

"I wonder if I could –"

"No", Tala said without taking his eyes of the menu.

"But –"

"No."

"The menu's almost 100 alcohol-filled anyway!"

"Too bad, isn't it?"

Both of them ended up having a salad and mineral-water.

They received their plates and a peaceful silence fell upon them. Tala was staring out of the window into the darkness illuminated by the lights. He looked so focused that he could have easily not noticed Bryan doing wheelchairs in front of him.

"Beautiful", Tala said with a sigh.

"Yes."

It was probably Bryan's luck that Tala was too preoccupied with the view to notice what Bryan was looking at.

Minutes passed, and Bryan became a bit restless. It wasn't usual for Tala to just stare at the world, without even saying something mocking about it from time to time. He seemed mesmerized. Staring at something, without really seeing it. Like blinded.

"Tala, it's only a window. Should not be that interesting", Bryan tried. No reply.

"Could you stop acting like a lunatic and eat your salad?" he tried a bit harder.

"Lunatic, huh?" came the nonchalant answer. "Well. Maybe I am such."

Bryan let out a deep sigh.

"Honestly. Must I start feeding you?"

Suddenly Tala turned to look at Bryan and smiled a bit.

"Maybe I just wasn't as hungry as I thought. I need to use the toilet. I'll be right back."

With that, he stood up from his chair and left Bryan to sit on their table alone.

Soon a waiter came to stand next to Bryan and looked disapprovingly at the half-eaten portions.

"Something wrong with the food? Is the lettuce not fresh enough for you, perhaps?"

"Nothing's wrong with the lettuce", Bryan answered in thoughts, looking at the direction in which Tala had left. He couldn't decide whether he was more annoyed or concerned with his red-haired friend. He paid the food in order to be left alone and not to be bothered. Then he just waited.

After a time that felt like eternity, Tala came back, positively beaming with excitement. Bryan prepared to demand to know what was going on with Tala and why was he acting so weird, but when Tala, without warning, took Bryan's hands into his own, the angry words turned into surprised, muffled gurgle.

"Bryan", Tala practically whispered, "I want to ask you something. If you don't say yes, promise me you won't tell anyone about what I asked."

Bryan could feel his own heart beating faster and his hands felt sweaty next to Tala's smooth and slightly cold ones.

"Yes?" he whispered, voice somehow hoarse.

"Do you want to come to the roof with me?"

"Yes! Yes! ... huh?"

Tala just snickered and started pulling Bryan away from the bar.

"Tala? What is it exactly that we are doing?" Bryan asked cautiously after a while. Tala had released his hands, so his thoughts were clear again.

"I want to see the view from outside", Tala said quietly, focused like trying to constantly remember something.

Bryan was about to say something against the idea, but then he thought better of it. As long as Tala was acting like this, he wouldn't listen.

At the end of a smaller corridor there was a door which seemed extremely unwelcoming. It was also locked.

"Well, that's it then. No way to get past that", Bryan said fast and turned to walk away. Tala poked him on the ribs and waved a small key.

"How did you get that?" Bryan asked, a bit afraid of the possible answer.

"Long story short, a security-guard came to talk to me when I had got out of the toilets. He was a bit too friendly for my liking", Tala said with a eloquent expression. Bryan growled.

"In return, when the guy finally started to leave, I borrowed his keys."

The truth dawned to Bryan.

"You _stole_ –"

"I borrowed without permission, at worst", Tala said calmly. After he had made sure that they were alone in the corridor, he put the key to the lock and turned it. He opened the door and looked at Bryan.

"Are you with me on this?" he asked silently. Bryan looked into those blue eyes. Did he even have a choice?

"Let's go then", Bryan muttered and looked away. Tala smiled slightly and started quickly walking up the stairs towards another door. Bryan switched on the stairway-lights and closed the door behind them. Then he slowly walked after Tala, who was already opening the door number two.

It occurred to Bryan that this was how his future would look like. He, following Tala even if his mind told him to do otherwise, hoping for a miracle to happen, disappointing again and again. He was trapped, somehow, and couldn't get out. He could just blindly follow his love, waiting for something or someone to give him his vision back.

_I love you Tala. I love you so much it hurts. And I keep on loving you even though in my mind I know that I shouldn't. I've began to love you without hoping you to ever answer to my feelings. And still, I have this illusion that I could have hope, and that hope comes from your smiles and jokes. You have no idea how much you torture me with them. To me, it's like you're giving me hope even though there is none. But no matter what, I love you. Maybe not forever, because that is much to promise, but I love you here and now, more than anyone ever. And I truly, really hate myself for that._

Tala was already outside when Bryan reached the top of the stairs. He took a deep breath and closed the door behind him so that it almost but not quite got shut.

Soon it came a complete silence.

* * *

Tomas. You asked me to add you in my story. I did. I am so, so sorry for you.

I'll most likely add a third chapter to this. I feel as leaving it like this would be somehow wrong.

If you actually read it this far, please leave a review. I'm interested to see how many of you had the patience/will to read it through.


	3. by Love

Title: Blinded

Rating: T

Pairing: Bryan/Tala

Warning: Includes yaoi, foul language and perverted characters. I blame Ronsu. Ronsu made me do it!

Disclaimer: Beyblade and -blah blah blah don't own fast forward- others.

Beta: Nancy. She's going to start demanding salary one of these days.

A/N: First of all, I'd like to thank every one of you who took the time to review the first and second chapter. Thank you.

This is shorter than the other chapters. Soorry. I blame Ronsu for that too.

The following chapter takes place after the happenings in chapter one (as if someone wouldn't guess while reading this...). And GabZ: yes, it's about what Bryan and Tala did after they went back to their room. 8)

Reviews and constructive criticism are both appreciated.

* * *

Sounds of ambulances echoed in the city of Moscow. An anonymous male caller had informed the emergency center that a young man, possibly not even 18 yet, had fallen from one of the tallest buildings in town. The rescue units had been sent off, but everyone knew that there was very little anyone could do anymore. The unfortunate man had most likely died as soon as he had hit the ground.

Police arrived at the scene some time after the ambulances. It wasn't yet certain to them whether the man had fallen by accident or jumped intentionally. Police did, however, inform that the man had been alone on the roof, because there was no one to be found nearby the area at that hour. Nevertheless, none of the officers were able to explain the fact that someone _had_ made the anonymous phone-call even though there seemed to be no one around who had witnessed the fall.

In time, the man was declared to be dead and police determined it to be a suicide because they couldn't find any signs of struggle from the roof or from the dead man's body. It didn't seem very important to investigate the subject more than that.

There were some articles and stories about the case and about the man in the newspapers the next week. Candles were lit to his memory and some tears were shred. But after that week, most of the people completely forgot him. It was like he had never existed.

It is a pity that people like Piotr Dmitri Petrov, who committed suicide by jumping off from a tower because he was in love with someone he shouldn't have been, only get mentioned after they have died and then are soon deleted out of memory. In the end, only one person really seemed to love him enough to remember him.

In a five-star-hotel nearby, in room number 213, Tala silently listened to the voices of ambulances, hugging his pillow to get some comfort. He could feel it in his heart, the fact that someone had died earlier than should have. He could sense it in the air, the mourning and the grief. He knew that there was someone out there who was wondering whether to die as well.

_It could have been me and Bryan._

Tala put the pillow aside and turned around to be able to look at the other boy sleeping on the same bed. He was slightly annoyed by the fact that Bryan had turned over so that he wouldn't face Tala.

"Bry? Are you awake?" he asked quietly.

"No", a tired voice mumbled. Tala could only smile and give the sleepy figure a gentle nudge.

"Kiss me."

"I already did."

"Not while we've been on the bed!"

"I was afraid that you might get some ideas", Bryan said with a snort.

"I know you like my ideas, you just won't admit it", Tala said, trying to get Bryan to look at him. He really wished for an eye-contact even if he couldn't get anything else.

Bryan reached his hand to grasp the watch from the table to check out the time. The movement made the covers slid off, giving Tala a golden opportunity to examine some male anatomy and specially concentrate on the back. Tala had never been the one to miss an opportunity when offered so innocently.

"1:02 AM", Bryan sighed and carelessly tossed the watch without even following it's flight. Then he seemed to notice what Tala was doing.

"Maybe you should go and take a shower."

Tala grinned hopefully.

"A _cold_ one."

Tala's grin faded a bit, but he didn't yield.

"Sure I can take a shower. Are you coming with me?"

"Goodnight Tala", Bryan said in a voice that suggested that he was going to start sleeping right there and then. He didn't even bother to pick up his covers.

Bryan and Tala had returned to their hotel-room about an hour ago, right after they had returned a key to the lobby desk, telling how they had found it on the floor and complaining how some guards just didn't know what they were doing. Half of the time which they had spent on their room had been lying on bed. Tala was completely unable to get sleep, for some reason. He was selfish enough to keep Bryan awake too, to keep himself amused. The way he saw it, if someone says he loves you, he'd better be prepared to stay awake with you as well.

"You'll get cold", he tried to get Bryan's attention. There was a muffled "mmm", but nothing else.

"Maybe you should get closer to me? It wouldn't be so cold then", he tried again. This time, he didn't even get "mmm".

Tala turned his back at Bryan and looked at the wall instead. This wasn't exactly what he had expected to happen after those moments they had shared outside. First of all, they were still dressed. In underwear, yes, but nevertheless dressed. Secondly, they weren't touching each other. _At all_. Not even innocently.

Tala moved his head on the sheets a bit to get it into better position when he suddenly felt something touching his neck, something warm, soft and slightly wet.

"Bryan", he said in pleased, almost purring sound, " I _knew_ that you'd succumb eventually. No one can resist my sexual attraction for that long. And you lasted more than an hour, I'll give you credit for that."

There was a scary silence. Then there was a little movement which told Tala that Bryan was still on the other side of the bed. He froze completely.

"Tala", Bryan started, obviously trying to sound serious and failing badly, "it is, of course, possible that there is third person here between us, but most likely it would seem to be so that you are being harassed by a strawberry."

Tala's eyes widened. He brought his hand to his neck and found something red and badly mushed. He cursed heavily, threw the berry against the opposite wall, grabbed his pillow ans pushed his head against it in hopes of suffocating. He had never felt so embarrassed in his whole life.

"Perverted little queer", Bryan said lovingly and ruffled Tala's hair. Tala didn't answer, he was too busy with suffocating himself.

Bryan shifted next to him.

"Stop killing yourself. And I'm sure that it wasn't meant to be harassing, the strawberry must have thought that it was consensual."

Tala pulled his head from the pillow to be able to glare at the other's grinning face.

"You are not helping the situation."

A grin turned into a softer smile and Tala received a comforting little kiss on the lips.

"Not helping".

He received couple more kisses, this time a bit longer ones.

"Helping a bit."

Smooches turned into french kisses and french kisses into more passionate making out.

"Heeeelping..." Tala was able to come up with while Bryan was gently biting his neck and leaving a trail of teethmarks as he moved lower. Tala would be angry about them in the morning, but right now it didn't really matter to him. As long as Bryan kept going lower, he could bit as much as he wanted and where he wanted. The thought made Tala's cheeks feel instantly a bit hotter.

"Good", Bryan whispered and moved further from the other boy again. When Tala realized that Bryan wasn't going to give him any more bites or kisses, he made a little, protesting sound and tried to pull the other one back. He might as well have tried to move a mountain with his mind.

"Get to sleep, Tala."

Tala tried moping. It didn't help, mostly because Bryan didn't even notice.

Out of the sudden he remembered the ambulances.

"Bry?"

He didn't get an answer, but he knew that his words were listened to.

"Did I ever thank you for saving me?" he asked, staring at Bryan's back intensely.

"I think you did."

"I think I didn't."

"I thought that the third kiss we had was the "thank you"-one?"

"No, the third kiss we had was me trying to get laid."

"Wasn't _that_ the fourth one?"

"No no no, you see, the first kiss was an order, right? So the second was a bit more experiencing one. The fourth kiss was obviously a question", Tala explained patiently.

"Question concerning what?" Bryan asked, sounding amused.

"Concerning the subject 'why aren't we naked and having sex yet?'"

"Did I answer that question?"

"Not really."

"Because this is Moscow, it's winter and we were outside", Bryan said, equally patiently as Tala.

"Well, we are inside now and the heating is working and I think that you could continue what you were doing just a moment ago..."

"We went through this subject when you tried to come and wash my back when I was showering. We are not having sex tonight".

"You suck."

"That too."

Tala blinked. He also blushed a bit, even though no one noticed it in the dark.

"You are a tease, Bryan Kuznetsov", Tala muttered and pulled the covers more tightly around himself.

There was a little moment of silence. Tala could see Bryan moving his pillow around a bit nervously.

"Wouldn't having sex right now, after me telling you how I feel and you not giving me any clear answers, only horny looks and gestures, make the whole night seem very much like a one night stand-sort of thing?"

The question was asked with a playful tone, but Tala sensed that it hid a deeper message, or possibly a fear.

"Bry", Tala began, voice now serious, but he was interrupted:

"Something's bothering you, isn't it? Not the fact that you can't have sex, something else. That's why you are keeping yourself, and me, awake. So just tell me what it is and we can both get to sleep."

Tala was about to deny what Bryan had said, but then he remembered the sirens again.

"I could have died out there, Bryan. And I _would_ have died if I had gone to the roof alone. I could have died, and then you would have never known how much you mean to me. And I would have never known that... that you love me", Tala said, and noticed that his voice was a bit timid while saying the last few words. It might take some time for him to get used to the idea of someone being in love with him.

Bryan went quiet for a while.

"Goodnight, Tala", he finally muttered. His back had been turned towards Tala the whole time, but now something about his posture stated that he wasn't going to say or do anything else that night.

Tala stared at the ceiling. He wasn't sure why he felt so cheated. After all, it was Bryan who had said the famous "I love you"-phrase, so he had started the whole 'stronger emotions'-business. _He_ was the one having the deeper feelings, not Tala. Tala did love Bryan, he just wasn't quite in love with him. Not yet, at least. At the moment, he was experiencing some intermediate form of having a crush and being in love.

Maybe he had just expected too much out of it. After all, Bryan wasn't exactly the typical "candlelight, roses and love poems"-type of guy. He was really sensitive about his emotions, even if he didn't like to show it to people. He didn't like to show his emotions to people, either. Bryan was also extremely paranoid. It would probably take months for him to start believing that this really was what Tala wanted.

This _was_ what he wanted, wasn't it?

Tala looked at Bryan's back and frowned. What if he had just got drunk from the word "love"? What if he would wake up tomorrow and regret the whole thing? How could he ever be able to say it to Bryan? To see how the other boy would shut his mind from everyone else, just like he had done a couple of years ago in the championships? How could he feel good about himself when one of his dearest friends would show no emotions except maybe hate and anger while training and hitting the punchbag? Wouldn't it also kill Tala inside that the friend who loved him, who was hurt and in pain, couldn't even cry to make it feel better because he had been taught that it was the ultimate sign of weakness?

Tala heard Bryan sighing and he smiled wistfully. It seemed that he wasn't the only one doing some thinking.

_Bryan... I wish I could know what you are thinking of right now..._

Tala decided to be brave, no matter what the consequences would be.

"Bry?" he whispered. He didn't get an answer, but he wasn't really expecting one.

"What are you thinking of?" he asked softly and stretched his hand to be able to draw circles on Bryan's back with his fingers. He could feel the body beneath the fingers tensing, but not enough to make him stop.

"Nothing much. Love. Stuff like that", Bryan answered stiffly, clearly wishing not to talk about it more than that.

"You know, things would be a lot easier if you didn't seem to resent so much the fact that you love me", Tala said, a bit worried that he might have crossed the line there. Bryan moved a bit and Tala knew that he was irritated now, so he pulled his hand away.

"I wish you could stop repeating the fact that I love you, I do remember that I said so, it keeps playing in my head, I really don't need you to keep on saying it. I'm starting to regret I ever said anything about it", Bryan said and sounded truly aggravated. He still hadn't even looked at Tala.

"Sorry", Tala said in a small voice and turned to look at the ceiling again. Somewhere deep inside of his mind, a little part of him wanted to cry. Tala didn't understand it. It was Bryan who had the stronger feelings in this. Bryan _loved_ him. He seemed to wish that he didn't and he had just said that he regretted telling it to Tala, but he still loved him, right? ... right?

In that moment of doubt, Tala realized how much he really had liked the fact that there was certainly at least someone who truly loved him. He realized that now that the certainty was gone, he felt oddly hollow again.

_Maybe... _

Tala took a glance at the motionless figure next to him. Maybe he needed Bryan to love him? Maybe he had always needed, but just hadn't known it. The information might have been somewhere deep inside his mind the whole time, but just waited for it's time. And now was the time.

"Bry?" Tala started once again, and to his shame as well as surprise he noticed that his voice was shaking. Unexpectedly Bryan turned around and looked him straight in to the eyes.

"Yes?" he whispered, and even if his voice wasn't shaky, he did seem somewhat nervous. Tala was startled enough from the sudden response to forget everything he had wanted to say.

"I..." he tried to come up with something to continue with, eyes wide and body twitching nervously, making his appearance resemble very much like a deer caught up in a headlights. He didn't find the words he wanted to use, so he said nothing.

For a moment they just both stared at one another, not even knowing what they saw. It was almost like both of them had been blinded.

Then Tala saw a glimpse of something in Bryan's eyes. From the corner of his eye he could see Bryan's hand slowly moving, but he wasn't able to focus his gaze upon it. Bryan's eyes had seemed to enchant him.

The next thing he felt was a hand, very gently pressed against his cheek. Without even realizing he did so, Tala moved his head a bit in order to feel more of that touch.

"You can't get sleep?" Bryan asked. He obviously tried to stay in character, not to show his nervousness and all, but he really couldn't.

"No", Tala answered, now almost desperate to get more caresses. He took Bryan's hand into his own and slowly started moving it around his face.

"Tala..." Bryan started, and there was slight warning in his voice. Tala didn't mind. At that point, he was unable to. He gave kisses to Bryan's fingers and prayed to every god that might be listening that the other boy would not tug his hand away.

"Remember how you wanted to eat the whipped cream off from my naked body? There's still some cream left", Tala said. He had meant it to be said with confidence and seduction, but it came out as something that sounded like a desperate and needy plea.

"I never said that I wanted", Bryan said, voice a bit hoarse now.

"So you don't want me?"

"That's not what I said and you know it."

"Do I?" Tala said, voice slightly trembling. His whole body was now aching to be touched. He started moving Bryan's hand in wider circles. First it was just the neck-area, but then his desires took over his mind and he started moving the hand even lower. He never stopped hoping that Bryan would start moving the hand instead of him.

"Tala..." Bryan whispered, staring at his own hand moving on Tala's chest. Tala didn't answer, just kept moving the hand. The raspy whisper hadn't exactly done any good to his mental state. Tala was sure that there had been some lust hidden in it. He felt couraged and was even more in need of a bodily contact. He didn't really know what he has doing, the commands seemed to come from a quarter inside of him he did not reign. Only thing he knew was that whatever is was that he was trying to achieve, already the journey there felt _good_.

Tala knew very well that normally he would have considered this absolutely pathetic. And still... Here he was, moving a god-damn hand on his body and already breathing heavily and suppressing moans like he had been receiving a fucking blow-job. And he knew that just moving that hand around made him blush like a school-girl. The thought of that made him angry enough to accidentally slip Bryan's hand a bit lower than he had meant to. The feel of that made him close his eyes and groan a bit. He was about to add some more pressure when he heard Bryan make a little hissing sound and he felt how the other one tried to pull his hand away. Tala hastily opened his eyes and shaked his head desperately.

"No, don't. Please Bryan. Don't. I need this. Please. Love me? Please?"

Tala realized how begging and humiliated his voice must have sounded, but at this point he couldn't give a damn.

Bryan gave him another surprise by pulling him close, close enough to make their skins rub against each other, and then by taking Tala's hand into his own and squeezing it slightly.

"I'm here. We'll be like this for the rest of the night if you want to. I'm not going anywhere. And don't think that you need to sleep with me to make me love you, I already do. I love you. Even if I wouldn't say so all the time. Remember that. And now you really should try to get some sleep", Bryan whispered to Tala's ear. Tala was somewhat overwhelmed by the closeness and heat of the other body, so he just ended up mumbling something affirmative. Bryan seemed to settle down with that.

"Well. Goodnight then, Tala", he said, kissed the redhead's forehead and closed his eyes in attempt to get finally some sleep.

Tala wasn't sure whether we felt disappointed or not. What he most had wanted had been the closeness and he had a lot of that now, but the possibility of mind-numbing sex seemed to jump up and down in front of his face and sneer at him. Still, there was no reason to be ungrateful. Tala snuggled even closer to Bryan, just to see what would happen. To his joy, Bryan responded by holding on to him a bit tighter. The hand on Tala's back seemed strangely comforting, as well as the now steady breath that stirred the red hair. Tala searched the spot on Bryan's neck he had discovered already when they had been outside, the one that felt to be designed just for him to place his head on, and used it as mix of pillow and padding.

Tala had never felt like he was completely insecure, not even in the abbey. He knew that he could very well take care of himself, so that wasn't an issue. And still, somehow, now that he was just laying there, next to _his_ sweet and innocently sleeping Bryan, he felt safer than ever.

Tala closed his eyes. Maybe he really should try to get some sleep. It was late, and Bryan would probably wake him as soon as he would wake up himself, just to be mean. Besides, he really did feel good and peaceful enough to fall asleep.

But if he wouldn't... Tala opened up his eyes and grinned evilly. Bryan was sleeping. That equaled Tala being close to a gorgeous and completely unaware body. Only thing keeping him from something he desired was a few pieces of fabric that could be quite easily removed. And now he had two idle hands.

This could get _fun_.

* * *

Many storeys below the scheming redhead and his unacquainted boyfriend there was a young man with a dark, messy hair and nervous expression. He was currently hoping that his phone-call would get answered. And it did. 

"Kath, it's Tomas. Look, I'm not supposed to say anything about this, the so called hotel-policy and all, but I just needed to tell someone I can trust and you are my friend and actually care about what I'm going to say and..."

There was a short silence in the cleaning booth.

"No Kath, I haven't been drinking. Just hear me out, will you? You are still a friend of that spinning wheel-thing, aren't you? The whirligig-sport?", small, angry pause, "okay okay, sorry, _Beyblade_. Yes, I'll remember it now, you don't need to murder me with an apple. Anyway. Bryan's your favorite, for reasons I can not understand if I may add, and you like Tala too?" again small pause, "Good. I'm just checking. Are you still living in the belief that every single hot and lovable guy either is or should be gay?" pause again, this time questioning, "Yes, I do have a point, just listen for a while. You remember how you once spilled the beer on that guy who said that Beyblade is a _gay_ sport? I think you might own him an apology. He was absolutely right."

Few minutes later, an elderly man who walked pass the cleaning booth heard an odd voice, like someone screaming "YES!" from a distance, but since it was none of his business, he didn't care.

It took about a week before the press got it's field day.

* * *

Tomas made a come-back, yay!

The way I see it? Tala waited few more minutes, tried to sleep, couldn't, got bored and then started playing with Bryan. Bryan woke up about five minutes later and, because Tala is both evil and good with his tongue, he gave in. After that, neither of them really slept at that night because they were busy doing something else. They were both very tired in the morning, making then extremely grouchy, and Bryan hit the security guard (who had earlier tried to seduce Tala) with the feared cream-bowl. As a sidenote, all cream had by then curiously disappeared.

I still hope for reviews.


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